TWENTY SCOTTISH SPECIALS in AUTUMN

SAT 26 AUGUST – SAT 2 SEPTEMBER 2023

SAT 24 AUGUST – SAT 31 AUGUST 2024

PRICES: from £1595pp

Early Birder Prices from £1445pp (subject to availability) Contact us before booking! No single supplement. Full details and a Trip Report are on our website. Please read FIELD NOTES on page 9.

A holiday designed for those who would like to see the Scottish speciality birds and we name 20 to give the holiday a fun focus. Ideal whether you keep a UK birdlist or not, on this holiday we look for key species in this part of the world at a relaxed pace. Key targets;

1. Golden Eagle

2. White-tailed Eagle

3. Osprey

4. Black Grouse

5. Red Grouse

6. Ptarmigan

7. Crested Tit

8. Scottish Crossbill

9. Dipper

10. Slavonian Grebe

11. Black Guillemot

12. Hooded Crow

13. Raven

14. Black-throated Diver

15. Red-throated Diver

16. Capercaillie’

17. Great Skua

18. Arctic Skua

19. Tree Sparrow

20. Hen Harrier combine with:

... and perhaps a few mammals too, including Otter, Bottle-nosed Dolphin, Brown Hare, Mountain Hare, Red Squirrel, Grey Seal, Common Seal, Red Deer and Roe Deer.

Early September is a great time to visit the Highlands; all our Scottish specials have fledged chicks, so bird numbers are at their peak and with dependent young it also means they can be easier to find than in the middle of summer. We also have the excitement of migration, with waders and wildfowl numbers building and chances of rarities being found too. We visit the West Coast to find Red and Black-throated Diver, Black Guillemot, Hooded Crow and Whitetailed Eagle amid stunning late summer scenery. We also have two days around more local coastlines, visiting the Black Isle or Moray Coast to give us the best chances of skuas chasing the soon to depart terns and Kittiwakes, and also to see Ospreys fishing before they head back to Africa for the winter. The rich arable farmland here is good for Tree Sparrow, and with luck we should find Corn Bunting, Yellowhammer and Grey Partridge too. Around the Cairngorms we work hard to find all four UK grouse species, as well as pinewood specialities such as Crested Tit and Scottish Crossbill, with good chances of Golden and White-tailed Eagles over the crags, and the possibility of a roaming Hen Harrier over the moorland.

*While we are still seeing Capercaillie, and they remain on this list, please regard sightings of this species as 'incidental'.

Seven nights at Mountview Hotel.

SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS

Autumn in the Highlands with Easy Walking (p26), NEW! Highland Migration by Land and Sea (p25), Raptors & Grouse (p27), Autumn Migration in the Highlands (p26).

SCOTTISH ISLANDS

North Ron & Orkney in early Autumn for birders (p42).